My cousin married a Norwegian and has lived there for the last 5 years or so. He told me that while life is expensive and taxes are high there, things that are outdoor or sport oriented are heavily subsidized and easily accessible to everyone. For a population of only 5 million, they sure throw their weight around well during the olympics.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

Fixed it for you. Just so we’re all clear.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

they didn't do too well in Rio but generally they seem to do ok in the summer olympics for a country half the size of PA. i think they are cloning skiers though which has to be banned soon.

Last three summer games they have 9, 4 and 4 medals respectively.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Last three summer games they have 9, 4 and 4 medals respectively.

Which is also pretty good, at least compared with Canada and the U.S. On a per capital basis, here are the rankings in the last 3 summer Olympics.

2016 - London

- Norway - 25th
- Canada - 31st
- U.S - 44th

2012 - London

- Norway - 29th
- Canada - 41st
- U.S - 49th

2008 - Beijing

- Norway - 10th
- Canada - 37th
- U.S - 48th

yeah, but you know. . . they have high taxes. so your argument is invalid.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I find it funny that Norway and a lot of other countries are better than the USA in biathlon. Maybe the NRA crowd do not like to work out ;-)

Always knew you were Halvard's ball washer. Thanks for making it official. ;)

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Good for Norway. We were deployed to Gardermoen for a few weeks back in 1983, and we got to spend some time in Oslo too. The people were very nice and polite. Sort of Europe's version of Canadians.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

You obviously didn't run in to Halvard while over there.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

That area has changed a lot since 1983. Most of the camps have been moved.
Now you can take a high speed train from Gardemone airport to Oslo in 20 minutes.
Last week I spent some time in that area. Lots of snow this year.

We were there in September/October, so no snow (but a fair amount of rain!) It was pouring buckets when we landed there, and I remember going for a lot of runs (on the country roads off towards Teigebyen and Asgreina?) in the cold and drizzle.

It wasn't "high speed", but the train (from Jessheim?) to Oslo was nice enough.

Again, lots of great people there.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Not to mention the buttermilk biscuits made by their bachelor farmers.

I think we have to cut Halvard some slack. He's bound to feel a bit out of place after moving from Norway to somewhere there are a lots of obese people all running around with hand guns. Not sure which is rarer in Norway - the obesity or the hand guns. :-)

I've been to Sweden and Denmark but not to Norway. My daughter was involved with a guy from Oslo when he was working in Vancouver. The guy was an engineer in the salmon farming industry so could easily find the same job in either country plus he was fluent in English as most Scandinavians are. But he expected her to move to Norway despite the fact she didn't speak a word of Norwegian and thus would have very limited job prospects. Needless to say, they split up.

But still, always amazing performances in the Winter Olympics from Norway. Canada is not doing bad either in 3rd place behind Norway and Germany. (nudge, wink)

Stayed at Spiterspulen and hiked to the summits of Galdhøpiggen and Glittertind last fall. Lucked out and got a couple of sunny days. Amazingly beautiful there, then to top it off the breakfast buffet served caviar.

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"Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude."

Saw on TV this morning that if Wisconsin split off and competed as a country, it would be comparable to Norway. Puts it in perspective.

Also, to keep up with Norway on a per capita basis, the US would have to win 1700 medals. So just 1688 to go!

Off topic, but anyone know why Canada and China were DQ'd in the 3000m short track relay? I watched the race and all I saw was S. Korea impeding the Canadian skater and causing her to fall. Presumably Canada and China both must have done something wrong just before that, possibly causing the S. Koreans to miss a handover (which they did miss just prior to the fall).


ETA: Found this re the DQ but it's still pretty sketchy: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/...lay/article38026990/

I mean, the Canadian is effectively taken out by the S. Korean, and then Canada is DQ'd for one of their 'resting' skaters going too close to the official racers near the finish (but no contact).

Do you remember when Roy Jones Jr. "lost" his gold medal fight to the South Korean boxer in the 1988 Seoul Olympics? He did everything short of kill the South Korean fighter, and yet he lost on the scorecard.
I think there may have been some home field homerism in the decision to disqualify the Canadian and Chinese teams. Imagine that? Alleged corruption at the Olympic Games?

So technically there is no recourse and the official doesn't have to say what the DQs are for, but I think in this case there will be - at a minimum - a lot more analysis of the race.

I suspect you're right. The way the crowd was raving while the victorious Korean team was doing victory laps with the flag, there would have been pandemonium if they had DQ'd the Koreans.

I won't profess to be an expert, so it will be interesting what the true experts have to say on this.

First time the Canadian women have failed to medal in this event...